Licensing question

[Guest nessl72]

I’m having a fabulous experience as a new buyer to Fiverr in having artwork created for an ebook.

My question is about the cover of my ebook. My Fiverr illustrator has most recently created the cover including title, illustration and by lines. I hand designed the font and sent as an example but didn’t mind if final draft was digital or hand drawn - it just had to present as I intended. The illustrator used a digital font; source unknown to me and I agreed on this font as it was what I needed. I am very happy with the final draft of my cover and how all elements came together.



I’ve now been sent my gig and also a link to purchase a license for this gig. I want to do the right thing by my illustrator and adhere to the law but I hadn’t heard of the $50 license fee before. It had never been mentioned throughout 10+ purchased gigs and only now on the cover gig. WHAT IS THE LICENSE FEE FOR? WHY AM I HAVING TO PURCHASE IT NOW? I don’t understand if it is because there is a potentially copy written font involved or simply because my ebook clearly won’t be free, copies will be sold. I just don’t understand why. If I’d designed the cover myself and went on to format the ebook ready to upload to Amazon, I wouldn’t have known anything about a licence fee. Can a more experienced buyer or seller explain to me please.



Thank you in advance. : )

[kreativa]

Hi @nessl72 , who requested a licence fee from you?



If the seller here on fiverr did this - and its not mentioned in his gig description , than he is trying to trick you and gain more money. You can either cancel the order OR leave a bad review an warn other buyers for false advertisement.



If he used a font that is not with commercial licence from a third party you can also report him to Customer Support since he gained profit by doing this, and he doesn’t have a licence to use it.



Kreativa

[Guest nessl72]

Thank you @kreativa. I’ve been working with the seller since November last year and the commercial license situation has only just come up now. The seller did NOT have it as a gig option in November, I notice this option has only just appeared in their ‘gig extras’ section in the past week or so. I notice that the seller tweaks and changes the description of gigs frequently - it didn’t bother me as we had our original communication/negotiations in-boxed and they had a clear understanding what I needed for each gig. My gig cost was inclusive of removing any watermarks from the illustrations.



The commercial license fee was never mentioned in initial negotiations. I understood as soon as I commissioned the illustrations and paid for them, they were mine. With permission, I’m using the illustrator’s name on the cover to give credit where it is due as well.



I don’t know the situation with the font. I asked the seller “Why am I paying this license fee - what does it cover?” They answered: “If your e-book is free then you don’t need to pay, if you are selling it, you need to pay.” I haven’t pressed the link to pay the license fee yet, so I don’t know if it is paid to Fiverr or the seller.



Should I cut and paste the communication between seller and I detailing our final negotiation and re message them?



Thanks for helping on this. I’ve had a great experience thus far and this e-book is like my baby!

[kimproteanmom]

If the gig extra for the license wasn’t explicitly stated when you purchased the gig, then (as I understand the TOS - note, I’m no lawyer!) I don’t believe that you’re obligated to pay the licensing fee: you’re operating under an older contract (gig description). Future gigs would be subject to the license fee. If it’s a custom order, I’d recommend rereading what, exactly, is included in your purchase.



Fiverr’s rules:



Commercial Use Licensing:

http://support.fiverr.com/hc/en-us/articles/204791227--For-Commercial-Use-License-Details-



Copyright and Commercial Use Ownership

https://www.fiverr.com/terms_of_service#ownership



Best of luck as you and the seller come to an agreement.

---

http://support.fiverr.com/hc/en-us/articles/204791227--For-Commercial-Use-License-Details-,https://www.fiverr.com/terms_of_service#ownership//p6.zdassets.com/hc/theme_assets/38806/1752/1980X350_1.jpg

Fiverr Customer Support

http://support.fiverr.com

[fonthaunt]

The commercial use license extra is new and has only been available since March 8. If you and the seller made an agreement before then, you should not have to pay that. You may need to write Fiverr Customer Support and show them the agreement made prior to March 8. It sounds like the seller realized the potential to milk you for a fee that is not even meaningful. Some sellers do charge for rights but that has to be up front or it’s invalid. Good luck!



http://support.fiverr.com/hc/en-us/articles/204832257-NEW-For-Commercial-Use-Extra

[sincere18]

it depends on what the license is for. And you need to clarify with the seller again.



Write back something along the lines of…



In our corresponance back in xxxx month, I understood as soon as I commissioned the illustrations and paid for them, they were mine. That this was a work for hire and I own the work once it was done. There was no mention of a license on your gig when I purchased the initial gig and we started working together.



I need you to specifically explain to me, what part of the cover that you have designed is not for commercial use without a license? Is it the font? is the drawing you used not your own, but from a stock company that you modified? This project is important to me and I need to be aware of any legal matters that can effect my book going forward.



Also, if you are asking for a licensing fee, I need to see some kind of licensing agreement to understand what it covers. Thank you.



then see what the seller says…either they are trying to simply scam you in general, or maybe they are realizing they can make more money just by saying you do not own the design until you pay ME to license the work. Or maybe it is the font and you cannot use it without owning it first. Many fonts are not for commercial use, you have to pay for them. And I wonder if the illustration/art work is completely origonal or if it is a derivative of some other stock image product.

[fonthaunt]

Reply to @sincere18: Overall good advice and the seller should be asked. I do know that the seller in question does have the new licensing gig extra displayed now. Fiverr apparently added it for all illustration sellers. The legal wording is vague. I think Fiverr added it with a default $5 price and sellers could turn it off or change the price after that. I just think the buyer needs to be aware that the gig extra called licensing is available now but not required. 🙂

[sincere18]

Reply to @fonthaunt: Oh, so this is a change that Fiverr has made recently. That is very interesting. I am wondering why they did that.



I mean I understand licensing in general when it comes to images and art, I just wondering why Fiverr had to step in and add that to all the gigs.

[fonthaunt]

Reply to @sincere18: So far they only did so in the Illustrations category. It is an odd feature since the ToS says all purchases are the property of the buyer unless the gig expressly states otherwise. Trying to add a feature covering a real commercial license and making it works with national and international laws seems impossible and legally questionable to me.

[Guest nessl72]

Thank you all SO MUCH. All of your comments and advice have been very helpful. For a moment I thought i was going crazy! The seller has been excellent to work with and perhaps it’s the fact that they too are fairly new to Fiverr.



I would like to continue to work with this seller in the future so don’t plan on ruffling feathers - I will just highlight our previous conversations and agreement. As suggested, I’ll contact Fiverr support if I feel that they should step in. I am now a little wiser on licensing and will be mindful of potential implications and costs for future gigs.



Thank you all again. ; )

[mrproofreading]

Reply to @nessl72: You sound like a great person to work with. If only we had more understanding buyers like you. Best of luck!

[sincere18]

Reply to @fonthaunt: I wonder if that was also because the sellers may not have been aware of what rights they were giving away. There are plenty of sellers who do illustrations and graphic design and photo stuff, because they are good at it, but not all know anything about the business end of things. I wonder if there were complaints from sellers about that part of the TOS.

[Guest itsyourthing]

sincere18 said: I just wondering why Fiverr had to step in and add that to all the gigs.

Because they make a commission on it; they sell loads of 'graphics', so that means loads more commissions.

 

However, encouraging (and automating) Fiverr sellers to provide any sort of legal contract will most likely prove to be a bad idea. What's going to happen when they start getting complaints about sellers who sold licensing on items/designs/art that they stole in the first place?

 

And again, another Terms change that's being applied without actually being amended in the ToS.

 

[fonthaunt]

Reply to @itsyourthing: Yes, and if I understood it right, they add it to illustration gigs without even asking the seller. The seller has to choose to turn the option off or change the price. So, if a seller doesn’t understand or notice it and people order it, the seller may not even really understand what rights they are giving away. Messy.

[Guest nessl72]

Reply to @mrproofreading: Thanks for your kind words. I’m one of those idealists, who just wants everyone to get along.

[Guest]

Reply to @fonthaunt: That’s definitely a can of worms. It should be interesting to watch!

[robinfg]

If you buy the license, who will police it? Interpol? The seller can continue to retain copies and since they are from all over the world who knows if the same work isn’t sold over and over again. There are other sites that these sellers belong to. It’s all about money$$$$$ My son is a lawyer in international law. At this point it’s a laugh.

[sincere18]

Reply to @robinfg: yes, but even licensing here in the states, or even if you hire your own freelancer directly, the issue with licensing in general is that you have to polcie the internet. Big companies like coca-cola or nike have entire legal departments that do just that, scour the internet and shut down anything infringing on it, but all the small biz owners always get worked up over this stuff. It just gives you the right defend it, IF you should find something.

[fastcopywriter]

The licensing fee is a scam, let’s face it, are the artists submitting their pictures for copyright? No, they are not. So the $5-$50 licensing fee is basically a promise that they won’t give that image to another buyer, and we all know that just because people make promises doesn’t mean they keep them. So here’s my advice to you, take your image, use it, copyright it if you want, and forget about it.



By the way, sometimes I’ve seen two books with the same cover, sometimes three. It happens. You can always hire someone else to make you a cover.